History of Metafalss

The history of Metafalss largely chronicles the rough and difficult path towards the realization of Metafalica. And that is because no matter the age in which the people lived, the hope always existed in their hearts.

Contents

The Origins of Metafalss

During the First Era, the nations that acted as the main rulers of the world were the main kingdom of El Duel and its 48 allied nations, which formed the nation of Sol Cluster. Still, while the nation of Sol Ciel wasn't a large state, it prospered thanks to its high degree of technological advancement. Given that the people of all these nations had a very materialistic outlook of the world, they developed hearts that were pretty much insatiable for many aspects. However, among them, there was another nation whose culture didn't develop materialism as their central way of thinking, called Metafalss, which lived isolated from all the other regions for most of its history.

This nation was populated by people whose outlook on life was very spiritualist, since a long time before the discovery of Sound Science. Because of that, it was left behind by the materialistic superior civilizations leaded by Sol Cluster, but that doesn't mean at all that their spiritualist level and civilization were being what delayed their technological advancing. Rather, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the nobility of the ideals of the people that lived in Metafalss was the highest that existed in the world.

The Teachings of Metafalss

Even though the ideologies of the Metafalssians were pretty religious at their core, they didn't have any images. And even though the ones that had the strongest power in Song Magic were the Tsukikanade (Moon Chanters) called the Twelve Sages, which were on charge of the political matters in the land, there weren't any true hierarchical relationships. Even the lowest of the countrymen had their lives guaranteed by the government, and the individual efforts of the people were remunerated in proportion to their extent. There was almost no crime, and thanks to this peace, the culture in Metafalss prospered to levels that no other region in the world could even dream of achieving.

The people in Metafalss lived believing that the Songs were within themselves, and they also believed that the strength of their Songs, called the Wave Level (which we know as Cosmosphere Level from Wave Science), would allow them to receive more power the more their wave levels rose. [The power of a Song is made from the contribution of an individual, while the power of an strong Song is made from the contributions of everyone]. Such were the teachings that the people received since they were young children, and also, given that the neighbors used to plow the cultivating fields for each other, they also did their best at researching the Songs and the heart for the sake of their neighbors.

In the Metafalssian civilization, the quantity of material inheritances was extremely low, and this was because this land wasn't very active when it comes to producing material goods. [If mankind receives the blessing of being able to harness the Songs, they won't need to rely into materials things anymore. Even if the people try to make things for themselves, by doing so, they are destroying the trees and stones they use as their fundamental materials, which goes against the Providence of the World].

That is what was handed down in this culture. Because of that, there wasn't any building in it aside from the bare minimum, and they didn't have any weapons beside their Song Magic. And once the other regions began to desperately research under the terms of Wave Science, Metafalss focused in the mutual understanding with the Will of Ar Ciel through the Hymmnos language, which developed independently from Sol Cluster and all of the other regions. This was how the form of the Hymmnos language we call the [Metafalss Note] was created, having the Twelve Sages as its main creators. This Note was special because it displayed an strong, yet delicate power that the other regions weren't able to replicate.

It was said that this power was able of making even complicated things, such as [Creating something out from nothingness]. However, given that something like this would require an absurd level of mind power and pure feelings, it had an extremely low success rate. The Metafalss Note is still used for many things in the current times; and it's still recognized as the most powerful note, but given that it's made from archaic words, now it's known under the name of [Ancient Metafalss Note].

The Utopia of Metafalica

This was something that started around the beginning of year 3000, when the lack of habitable land became an increasingly grave problem to the people because of the continued increase in population. Even the government began to become inefficient in solving this problem, leading to an increase in the dissatisfaction of the people. There were even people that supported the idea of clearing more land by cutting down the forests, but that idea was viewed as a taboo by the Metalfassian society, and as such, it was turned down. That was the announcement of the end of the peaceful times. Meanwhile, they continued researching steadily the Metafalss Note, and they reached the conclusion that it was possible to create matter of enormous proportions through the Hymmnos language. This fact gave hope to the people, and became the driving force for the feelings they were putting in their new land and sky. A land floating in the sky, created by the Hymmnos language, which would be expanded through Song Magic, and nurtured by the Songs...

That was the Song Magic that everyone dreamed with at the time, which would let them to create a new land and sky. Given that it was a land made by the people of Metafalss, for the people of Metafalss, they ended calling it [Metafalica].

However, given that the Hymmnos language of the time required to continue singing without pause to maintain the physical shape of the created matter, especially for creating something as enormous as a continent, its creation ended in a complete failure. The realization of Metafalica also brought a great number of distresses to the people, and at this stage, it was nothing more than an absurd, empty dream.

The First Era: The Prelude to the Present

The history after the discovery of Sound Science is divided into three great periods, called the First, the Second, and the Third Eras. In these, the First Era was the one that extended from the discovery of Sound Science until the Grathnode Inferia catastrophe, during which Metafalss was still ruled by its Twelve Sages and its spiritual ideologies. The raise and decay of its civilization, its firsts contact with El Elemia and the rest of the outside world, and finally, the construction of the Second Tower, all were facts that happened during this great historical period. Furthermore, in relation to how the Eras are divided, the 3772 year is seen from the viewpoint of the chronology that was established in Sol Ciel. In Metafalss, no one thinks or knows that the period of time after the Grathnode Inferia is divided into the Second and Third Eras.

Start of Project Metafalica (3016~3032)

At 3032, a delegation of the city of El Elemia, located in the region of Sol Ciel, came to Metafalss. At the time, there were very few people that knew about the emerging nation of El Elemia, but the Sound Science technologies that they brought with them caused a great shock in Metafalss. Even though the conservatives opposed to this, they were ignored, and finally, El Elemia and Metafalss began working together.

This was the biggest transition phase for Metafalss. As for El Elemia, they acquired a very powerful weapon thanks to the polishing of the Metafalss Note, given that it was a kind of Hymmnos language created by methods that they, who indulged so much into Wave Science, would have never thought of.

However, in exchange for giving to Metafalss their cooperation and sharing their Sound Science technologies, the Elemians demanded the Metafalss Note to be disclosed to the public. Thanks to these collateral exchanges it was that El Elemia lent to Metafalss one of the newest results of their technologies: their Second Reyvateil Origin, Frelia. Both nations agreed to start a conjunct project that used the powers of Frelia, and thus said project, under the name of [Project Metafalica], was setup. The Project started with the construction of a Symphonic Power Amplification Tower of [Ar tonelico] over the land of Metafalss.

The Development of Sol Marta

Sol Marta is an artificial satellite, whose name translates to "Motherly Light" in the Hymmnos language. It works as an amplifier for the powers of Song Magic, and also, as an artifact that emits Dynamic Waves of a great energy and strength, and we can see the intensity of the feelings of these waves given that they were used for a feat such as creating a Tower. Sol Marta was designed as a project whose functions were amplifying the powers of the songs that use the Metafalss Note by the nation of El Elemia, and its development began after the Elemians learned about the Metafalss Note. However, at that time, the Elemians were more than convinced that the project would be success, given that around that time they also started working in the development of the Reyvateils, and they ended becoming the preamble to the construction of Sol Marta. Its development was continued in the remote region of Metafalss, and finally, around year 3037, its core part was completed, and it was sent to the atmosphere the following year. Once there, Frelia started her works on constructing the Tower, using the Divine Drafters that were created by Sol Marta and herself.

Project Metafalica

Frelia's singing has special abilities. Given that she was programmed to sing using the Metafalss Note as much as she wants, she is able to continue singing at optimal conditions without needing even a minute of resting in compensation. The people were completely sure that as long as Frelia was with them, the creation of the land, better said, of Metafalica, would be a reality.

However, both nations had different goals on mind. In contrast to the wishes of Metafalss of creating the green land they sought for so long, the goals of El Elemia were the construction of another Tower (Ar tonelico). Because of that, it was decided that the Tower would be built first, and the green land would come later on, thus ending the disputes. Given that Frelia would be in charge of the plans for constructing such a massive structure, the Project ended being called [Project Metafalica], following the legends of Metafalss.

The Reyvateil Origin "Frelia"

Frelia is the second Reyvateil that was created in the world, namely, the second one of the Reyvateil Origins. Given that the first Origin Eolia (Shurelia) was a Reyvateil created specifically for Administrating the Tower of Ar tonelico, she is the only Reyvateil Origin that has the special I/O interfaces for connecting directly to the Tower, allowing her to become one with the Tower, as it was the goal of her creator. However, the goals for the second Reyvateil that was developed, Frelia, were to create a Tower in the land of Metafalss through her singing.

The Reyvateil Origins are created immediately after their nurturing process in a Tripolar Resonance Incubator is complete. After around one year, they come out from the Incubator with an appearance equivalent to the one that a 6-year old human child would have, and after around 12 years, they reach their critical state (maturity). Frelia (Hymn Code: FRELIA_ANSUL_SOL=MARTA) was sent over to Metafalss when she was still on the early stages of her development, and because of that, when she still had her 6 years old initial appearance, she was raised as a Reyvateil Origin without an Hymn Code. The SOL=MARTA part that is contained in her current Code alludes directly to the artificial satellite (Sol Marta) that was planned to be used in Project Metafalica.

When Frelia finally arrived at Metafalss, the voices that greeted her weren't warm at all. That was because the people in Metafalss had fixated an enormous emphasis in their spiritualist mentalities, and as such, they looked at the science from El Elemia as mere aberrations. Obviously, the existence of a life form created through science, as Frelia was, only gave to them uneasiness, and everyone felt exactly like that because of how much this land honored its traditions.

However, the Twelve Sages of Metafalss welcomed Frelia as one of them, and they even let her attend school so the people would grow accustomed to her presence. Still, that didn't have the desired results, since Frelia ended growing up persecuted by the people of Metafalss. Only one thing saved Frelia from these dark days, and that was the existence of the person that acted as a mediator between her and the people: Jaza. Frelia and Jaza shared their hearts with each other, and she taught Frelia that no matter how hard the situation was, she should always go through life with an smile. That she should accept everyone, love everyone, and forgive everyone. Jaza was one of the very few people that knew the true essence of these teachings, since the majority of the people were corrupted already in these times.

After that, Frelia managed to make friends with others of her same age. However, her best friend was the only son of Sage Crijaba: Enja. He and Frelia shared their hearts with each other, and though his shape changed with the time, both continued spending their days together forever.

Sol Marta Elevates to the Skies (3033~3040)

The original plans were that Frelia was to be sent to the exosphere together with Sol Marta as soon as she reached the age of 18 years. After she was sent over to Metafalss immediately after her creation, she attended school together with the local children. However, five years later, when Frelia reached the age of 11 years, a notification from El Elemia arrived, ordering Frelia to be sent to the exosphere at once.

As a consequence of moving the plans forward seven years ahead of their original timeframe, the project was accomplished in an imperfect way. Because Sol Marta was left incomplete, it wasn't equipped with the necessary facilities that allowed it to gather and produce Symphonic Power by itself. Instead, it would have to depend entire on the First Tower for its energy supply, but despite this, Frelia went on to the exosphere, riding on Sol Marta. She was accompanied by a maintenance droid that also doubled up as Frelia's guardian, whose name was decided by the great sage that was going to be remembered forever in Metafalss: Jaza.

At the time, Jaza was the woman that was in charge of Frelia and her relationships with the people, and she pleaded to the directives, as the representative of Metafalss that they allowed the droid to accompany Frelia in Sol Marta.

Rhaki and Jaza

Frelia embarked in Sol Marta together with Rhaki thanks to Jaza, however, this exposed her to danger almost immediately. This was because Rhaki, as Frelia's guardian, was programmed to exterminate anything that she considered as a threat to Frelia. And this was because Jaza didn't listen to the explanations that the El Elemia engineers gave to her. Once Rhaki's program was initialized, it was obvious that it would kill off Jaza, but she still chose Rhaki as Frelia's guardian because the Miko clothes that covered her body gave her the appearance of a lovely girl, and she didn't seem like a danger at all, at first glance.

However, her combat capabilities are extremely high, to the extent that no living human would be able to match her alone. Even if she was constantly putting her life at risk by getting close to Frelia, Jaza always lived alongside her, giving her all of her. However, these days soon reached their end. 702 days after the ascent started, Jaza received terrible news from El Elemia via Rhaki. The project that El Elemia made was planned in such a way that Metafalica would never exist after all. The Second Tower, which was still under construction at the time, would be completely destroyed four years after that day. Metafalss was deceived by them.

Since Jaza saw important information with the highest level of secrecy, Rhaki was ordered by El Elemia to pursuit and attack her with all of her powers, until Jaza fell dead. Given that Jaza didn't have any ways to fight back against Rhaki, she barely got into an escape pod, and successfully got away from Sol Marta, arriving to the top of the Tower, still in construction. Meanwhile, Rhaki just told Frelia that [Jaza has returned to the surface]. However, at this time, Jaza had already taken away in secret the program that stimulated Frelia's growth: the D-Cellophane.

Onwards to the Construction of the Second Tower

The construction (creation) of the Tower began in 3038, together with the ascension of Sol Marta. It began when Frelia started up the rotation of the three great Rings, which worked as her drafting tools, and crafted an horizontal one. She created the Tower by using these Rings.

While Frelia sung her special song, EXEC_VISIONDANCE=SOCKET/.,inside of Sol Marta, she also danced. And following the movements of that fairy-like, and beautiful dance, the 3 Rings lightly rotated, using the horizontal one as their pivot. Then, the [Tower] began to form in the air, without even a little discrepancy from how it was designed in the blueprints. The vertical rotating Rings would continue doing this until they had completed the Tower, and only at that moment they would collide into each other, to fall off afterwards. The Tower was created little by little through this miraculous act, though its advancement was also sped up. The beautiful movements of the Rings were called at the time the [Dance of the Heavenly Fairy], and it became the main conversation topic for the people.

The Grathnode Inferia

In 3040, an unprecedented crisis happened upon the world. Because of the subversive activities of the Terus that were dispatched by El Duel, the First Tower, which was what gave to El Elemia its great prosperity, was silenced. However, this caused the Symphonic Power of the Tower to run wild, initiating the catastrophe. The great quantity of plasma that was released by the Grathnode Discs into the sky formed a plasma sea called the Blastline, and the land of Sol Ciel was shattered into bits. Furthermore, from the remains of the land, a great quantity of poisonous gas seeped out, and formed the Sea of Death that currently covers the entirety of the world. As a consequence of this catastrophe, called the Grathnode Inferia, all of the people in Sol Ciel became unable to continue living in anywhere that wasn't part of the Tower or its surroundings.

The damages caused by the Grathnode Inferia also extended to very faraway lands, and the land of Metafalss also received a great damage. At the time, Frelia was working at an astounding speed with her duty of creating the Tower, and in just 2 years, she had already completed around 1/4 of it.

But when the Grathnode Inferia occurred, the Sea of Death crossed over the boundary where the three Rings that Frelia was manipulating for the creation of the Tower were located, and from that day onwards, the Rings became inoperable.

The Second Era: Infel Phira and the War Against the Goddess

Because of the worst catastrophe that occurred since the dawn of history, the Grathnode Inferia, the world completely changed. The development of the world greatly ended stagnating, and many precious technologies were lost. Its influence also left a great mark for the future generations, given that the ages that came after Grathnode Inferia were classified as the [Second Era] in many history books.

It was in this Era that Metafalss took upon itself the challenge for developing Metafalica. Important events such as the completion of Infel Phira, and the War Against the Goddess, which also left their marks in the generations posterior to them, all happened during this period of time.

The Times of Chaos (3041 ~ 3085 AD)

Reunion with Enja

Jaza saw the coming of the Grathnode Inferia from the top of the Tower, and on that same place, she collapsed and lost her consciousness. When she came about, there were a great number of people around her: the Twelve Sages, and the boy the was Frelia's friend, Enja. Also, and what surprised her the most, were the faces of many Reyvateils. She was told by them that they had been sent to Metafalss from El Elemia the past year. There were in total 33 Reyvateils, and thanks to them having learned to sing in the Metafalss Note, they were even able of feats such as creating trees from the air.

It was felt by the people afterwards that if it were for the power of their Song Magic, they wouldn't had been able to recover from the catastrophe. However, the situation got worse. Because Metafalss was so far from El Elemia, which was the epicenter of the catastrophe, this region wasn't completely covered by the Sea of Death until around ten years later. However, the surface began to gradually fill with poisonous clouds of sand and smoke, and slowly, the environment became unhabitable for the people.

The people fell dead one by one, and because the Tower was a man-made structure, with no vegetation or trees, they had to go back down the Tower to collect food, and then hurry back up, and the toxicity of the Sea of Death increased with the passing of the time. Definitively, the situation in Metafalss got harsher than ever.

The Times of Chaos

Jaza had strong motivations to go defeat Rhaki and bring back Frelia. However, she also saw the plans of El Elemia at Sol Marta, in which she learned that they intended to destroy the Second Tower in 3045 AD, and furthermore, she also saw the implications that would bring now this world had moved onto the next era literally devastated. The Second Tower was now the place where everyone in Metafalss lived, and its destruction was something that should be avoided at all costs.

Jaza told about the conspiracy of Elemia to the people, and her speech about it was then propagated among the people, known under the name of [Jaza's Prediction]. However, no one wanted to believe these words, and everyone just gave her strange looks. Jaza didn't ever get any supporters in her efforts to preserve the Second Tower, and when the 3045 AD year passed without any major incidents, no one wanted even to be associated with Jaza anymore.

Sol Marta, Isolated

The Grathnode Inferia brought complete isolation to Sol Marta. Given that El Elemia received a devastating shock from the catastrophe, all kinds of telecommunication from the surface came to an end.

To Frelia, the creation of the Tower was the most fun of experiences, so when she noticed she couldn't make the Rings rotate anymore, she fell into a boredom from which nothing could get her out. Feeling pity for Frelia, Rhaki began teaching her about all the scientific knowledge she had recorded. From that, Frelia discovered about the existence of Cold Sleep Pods. So Frelia began singing, crafting a pod around her, and fell asleep inside of it, continuing to do so until [That day] came. Soon enough, the area around where the pod was began to change.

Land appeared over the metallic floor, and grass and trees began sprouting from it. And now, 700 years after that, Sol Marta is covered in greenness, effectively turned into an small land floating through the space. And that could be because that was the closest Frelia imagined how the Tower would originally be, had it been completed.

The Feelings of Enja and Jaza

Jaza prepared herself for the events that would happen on 3045, though at the end, nothing happened. She even continued living this kind of life despite all of the people siding against her, and even then, she continued acting as she thought it was the best.

And to make everything worse, around this time the immigrants from Elemia and the Metafalssians began to quarrel, and these disputes became more frequent with the passing of time. At the time, the population ratio of Elemians and Metafalssians living in this land were 3 Elemians per each 7 Metafalssians.

What could be built of the Second Tower was thanks to the collaborative efforts of the Metafalssians, Elemians, and a minority of the Teru, yet the Elemians still claimed that given their great knowledge of Wave Science, they were originally entitled to the complete administration of the Tower, and at the end, the authority was indeed given to them. Because of their advanced technologies, it didn't pass much time before they started acting as if they were the owners of the entire place.

And yet then, the people were dying because of the starvation and the fights between themselves. The harsh environment of the Tower caused a sharp decrease in the total population of Metafalss, and even in the current times, it's the cause of death for some of the people. And during this, the Elemians continued seizing day by day more power for them, and it would have seem that the Elemians would end up construction a community where they would be ruling over the Metafalssians.

Yet still, Jaza didn't give up. During many years, she continued fighting alone. The days passed, and when she began getting old, a sole supporter appeared for her. The person that was closest to her before the great catastrophe, who at the time was just a boy constantly scolded by his parents: Enja. 13 years had passed since them, and Enja had grown to become a fine man.

Given Jaza was isolated, and treated as an heretic, Enja needed to have quite a lot of courage to help her, yet still, he was decided to press on. There was just one thing he regretted, and he had decided he couldn't leave this past error without being repaired.

Enja always believed the words of Jaza. She once told him that this world would be destroyed, and that Frelia was in crisis. Since he knew what kind of person Jaza was since he was a child, he never doubted her words. However, his own weakness got in the way of him telling his true feelings to his most important person until now. Frelia was that kind of an special person to Enja. If they could meet again, he would apologize to her, even through only one word. Because he heard she was coming down after a few years, he thought it would be all right to wait until then, but that day never came. If what Jaza said was true, he would never be able to meet with Frelia again.

Because of that, Jaza and Enja worked together to reach Sol Marta. So he could give at least a one-word apology to Frelia. So he could express to her his true feelings, without his body betraying him again.

Selena, the Collaborator

When Jaza got beyond 40 years old, she noticed that her body was deteriorating with the passing of time. While Frelia, as a Reyvateil Origin, could continue living forever, Rhaki would only continue moving as long her Symphonic Power source lasted. However, Jaza's own life also had a limit. Once she died, there wouldn't be any left that could warn the people about the crisis this Tower faced. And also, once Sol Marta became impossible to see without a telescope, the ages would pass, and it would disappear from the memories of everyone. However, the facts of the crisis that threatened this world, as well Frelia being left behind in Sol Marta were thing that wouldn't change, even in the farthest future, and would always continue like this. Jaza knew she didn't have much time left.

She was about to succumb to despair, when a new collaborator appeared. It was an engineer that worked together with Enja, called Selena. She also was one of the Reyvateils that came from El Elemia, called a Pureblooded Beta-type.

Selena heard the things that Enja told her, and then she offered her help to them. Her sincerity made Jaza overlap Frelia's image over hers, and trusting in her, she showed to Selena the possession she treasured the most. That was the D-Cellophane of Frelia, which Jaza brought back from Sol Marta.

They tried extracting Selena's D-Cellophane and Installing Frelia's into her. For some time, it seemed that there was nothing different about her, until a certain day, she suffered an unexpected change. As if Selena had been completely possessed by Frelia, her consciousness turned into Frelia's consciousness. Then, Frelia talked to Jaza, as if they hadn't been separated for much time. It might just have been that Selena's body moved by itself because she had the same Spectrum Gene as Frelia, however, it truly was Frelia the one that was talking.

This is how Jaza learned that Frelia continued sleeping at the current time, and that Rhaki was currently at her side. By Installing Frelia's D-Cellophane into herself, Selena was able to become Frelia as much as she liked. This served to Jaza and her group to learn about many cutting-edge Wave Science technologies from Frelia, and these technologies and knowledge are what put the poor land of Metafalss into the way to its salvation. Naturally, because of this, many people came to Jaza's side.

Enja, Headed for Sol Marta

With the technologies and knowledge received from Frelia, both Enja and Selena received a heavy responsibility from the people. A great number of talented people reunited under them, and the efforts that seemed hopeless for a single person suddenly became easily achievable.

If one person was able to gain the trust of Enja, and become a good friend of him, they would enter to the group that was taught about emotional benevolence. Jaza devotedly dedicated her efforts to this, and one by one, a lot of the people that didn't know the history of the First Era gathered under her. Jaza talked passionately about Rhaki and Frelia to these young ones, raising greatly the awareness among the people that they had the duty of protecting both Frelia and this world.

Around this time, Jaza's influence had extended so much that it was already in par with the sphere of influence that the Elemians had. The Elemians deemed this as a threat to their power, and began making Jaza and her organization the aim of their attacks.

Jaza's influence became so great that, before she had noticed, it was even given a name: [Pastalia]. Pastalia means [Song of Revolution] in the Metafalss Note. And starting here, and for the few next decades, Metafalss saw how many violent conflicts between Pastalia and the power of the Elemians unfolded.

However, up to the very end, there was a fundamental difference: while the Elemians fought for their own profit, and thus brought violence to Metafalss, Pastalia only thought to harden the unity among the people. To protect their world, they didn't have any other choice but to survive. These feelings were what boosted the morale of the Pastalians. Before soon, a great number of Reyvateils also joined the Pastalian side. Furthemore, because one part of the Elemians coveted an absurd number of war booty, the others rebelled against them, and left the Elemian camps to join Pastalia, which were the only ones that weren't prosecuted later on. This was quite a great surprise for the Metafalssians.

And while this happened, it finally was completed. A vehicle called a rocket. They just wished to go up, and up... and head up to Sol Marta, which floats beyond the heavens... that was what everyone had in their minds. This was the only feeling that supported the creation of something like this. When the rocket was completed, it finally was the moment for realizing Jaza's earnest wishes, who in that year had already gone beyond her 50th birthday.

Jaza herself was the person who most wished to go there, but Enja stopped her, since given her age, she wouldn't be able to endure a fierce battle with Rhaki if she went to Sol Marta. However, even if she was nearing the advanced age, she still survived as a very stern woman. Still, Enja managed to persuade her, and promised her that he would bring back Frelia to the Tower. Thus, a great number of Reyvateils, and his valiant companions, offered to go with him to Sol Marta. However, he expected that defeating Rhaki, the one assigned to be Frelia's guardian, wouldn't be an easy task.

The Rocket, Shot Down

Ten days had passed, but Enja's group didn't return. And once the anxiety of the people began to greatly rise, the rocket they had used to go to Sol Marta fell from the skies, and into the Tower. It clearly meant that someone had shot it down.

When the rocket fell, the noise it made when it impacted with the tower was so loud, that everyone imagined that it was another great catastrophe. And once they learned that what fell down was the rocket in which they had put all of their hopes, they felt that the world was ending. However, the ones that were affected the most were Jaza and Selena, since they had lost Enja in this failed operation.

The Bell Strike Hall

When the rocket fell, Jaza and Selena were the first ones among the people of Pastalia to express their deep sadness. They had to hold a memorial service for the ones that went to Sol Marta in that rocket, and for that purpose, they built a great bell in the summit of the Tower, just in the place where the rocket fell down. This place was named the Bell Strike Hall, and in a short time, it became the reason behind the name of the Grand Bell Palace. Also, given that this place was the closest are to the given, it was chosen in 3313 AD as the place in which Metafalica would be sung. Because of that, it became to be known by everyone in the future generations as the [Hill of Metafalica].

Jaza's Metafalica Theory

The main reason behind the great influence of Pastalia was because of Jaza's development of a theory for making Metafalica a reality. By putting to practical use the theories of Sound Science from the First Era, they would be able to use without any limits the energy from Sol Marta to create the continent.

However, given that actually Frelia was the one that had the authority over Sol Marta, and the ability to use its resources, the theory required that Frelia's Dynamic H-Waves were consumed for the creation of Metafalica. And still, Jaza wasn't able to solve the most essential part of the theory of Metafalica: the [Will of the Land]. At the time,she wasn't able to find any other means besides using a cornerstone (a human sacrifice) as the Will itself, and furthermore, given the absurd scale of the Symphonic Power requirements for the realization of Metafalica, these facts meant that the Reyvateils that sung this Song would end losing their lives.

Given that the only Reyvateils that had such a great quantity of power at their disposal were the Origins, they wouldn't be able to create the land without making any sacrifices, so it became clear that it was an impracticable theory. Thus Jaza, having understood that her Metafalica theory was defective, she left it incomplete, and sealed it away.

The Flaws of EXEC_METAFALICA/.

Among the many dialects that were for the Songs that allowed to control the First Tower of Ar tonelico, the most powerful was said to be the Ancient Metafalss Note.

And among the many songs that were made under said dialect, the most powerful one was said to be EXEC_METAFALICA/., the Song whose name meant [Hope]. It was a song created by Jaza in 3080 AD, and historically, the completion of EXEC_METAFALICA/. could have been seen as the completion of the theory that would make the New Testament of Metafalica a reality.

The original basis for this theory was the product of the thorough analysis she did from how Frelia's songs and the movements of the Rings were related to the creation of the many structures of the Tower, which she did while she stayed at Sol Marta. The layout of the Song Magic was independent of the presence or absence of power, and that included this theory originally, and since the only requirement the Reyvateils had to recite this Song was to be able to sing, there weren't any restrictions tied to it, and anyone was able to download it. However, the realization of EXEC_METAFALICA/. was deemed impossible at the time, so only the song was completed back then.

Jaza observed that no Reyvateil was able to release the required quantity of flow of Dynamic H-Waves, nor they could reach the average required spectrum value for the song, so at the end, she left the theory as a song impossible to sing, no matter who the singing Reyvateil was, and sealed the theory off, so she could regain her peace of mind.

The Era of the Long Peace (3086-3187）

Even though Jaza passed away on 3085 AD, a period of peace came to the Pastalia she headed after her death. This was because the Selena became the first Maiden, obeying Jaza's last will, and given that the Pureblooded Beta-types can live for up to 150 years without growing old, she continued being on active duty until the end of her days. The era of Selena was also known to posterity as the era in which the basis for the current Metafalss were set, and was an era of peace and stability. Selena first deified Jaza, and after assuming the position of second Pope of Pastalia, she enforced a complete public order in all the sectors of the Tower. She eliminated the Metafalica enforcing faction (the radicals) and the Elemian bureaucrats. The remnants of influence of both factions them moved to the Rim, and became the colonizers of it.

Still, speaking about technology, this era saw a great number of technological advancements. This was thanks to the crew that came from Neo Elemia in 3067 AD, during Jaza's time, and the knowledge they brought with them became great hints to realizing the greatest dream that Jaza and Selena had: the creation of Metafalica. This knowledge was finally condensed in this time with the creation of the [Infel Phira Project]. However, and after all the efforts, Selena couldn't live to see the day in which this project ended being a success.

The Establishment of the Grand Bell

The tendency to live in the Tower increased among the people. Because of this, a block of land was expanded upon the uppermost stratums of the Tower, and it expanded until it became a town. Jaza was the one that crowned this town with the name of Pastalia. After Jaza's death, Selena was enthroned as the new Pope, and she officially established a control and regulations agency for Pastalia, called the [Grand Bell]. And in the centuries to come, this control agency continued doing its job, but the times when it was the firmest were during Selena's rule.

Statue of a Goddess

When Selena was appointed as the Pope of the Grand Bell, she ordered to construct an enormous statue in the town of Pastalia. This act was her way of honoring the very first Pope of Pastalia: Jaza.

Failure in the Construction of Infel Phira

Even though this world was now at peace, the people hadn't still given up their wishes for Metafalica. So the Grand Bell began using the knowledge they had received from Neo Elemia, and tried creating a project with the final goal of making Metafalica a reality: the [Infel Phira] project.

This Infel Phira was different from the one that came up later on (during the 3300's) mostly because it was made using the theories and technologies that were available at the time. However, both were based on the same theories: if they could gather the Song Magic of many Reyvateils being sung at the same time, it would greatly amplify the power of the singing, and then, it would be easy to satisfy the spectrum level and quantity of flow requirements that EXEC_METAFALICA/. needed. Actually, the hypothesis of using in combination the power of the Song Magic sung by many Reyvateils at once was a sort of add-on that Jaza had made to her Theory for the New Testament of Metafalica. However, despite Infel Phira being built and then tested on 3116 AD and 3150, both tests ended in failure. The theory was perfect, but unfortunately, Metafalss hadn't still reached the technological level that was required for a feat like it.

The Beta-ER Technique

Around this era, an special Reyvateil-raising technique was established, called [Beta-ER (ERT)]. The purpose of Beta-ER is to copy the Spectrum Gene of an Origin or Pureblooded Beta-type to another Reyvateil, through the use of a D-Cellophane. Its largest advantage is the fact that the Reyvateil that has the D-Cellophane installed is able to use the same power that the original owner of the D-Cellophane has. To put it short, this means that the application for this technique that had the best effects were the Beta-ERs that made use of Frelia's D-Cellophane. These Beta-ERs that were capable of using Frelia's power were then called [Maidens] by the Great Bell.

Incidentally, this meant that the proof of the Maiden of [being able to communicate with Frelia] was stressed more than anything else in later years. While this method of verification is the most concrete one, it could also be said that the method is actually asking: "[Does she (the Beta-ER) have the D-Cellophane installed]?

The Succession of the Maidens of Homura

The name of the [Maidens of Homura] was coined during the era in which it was accepted to have two separate Maidens: [Homura] and [Mio]. However, among both kinds, the main Maiden line, of which Selena was the founder, is the [Homura] one, and in the 3770's there are very few that know about such titles.

For generations, the Maidens of Homura have passed down the D-Cellophane of Frelia from one to other. The succeeding Maiden has to have the appointing ceremony during her childhood, which consists of Installing the D-Cellophane into her. Once the ceremony has finished, inside her, her Spectrum Gene will be completely overwritten to be exactly the same as the Spectrum Gene contained in the D-Cellophane.

[The Ones that Hear the Voice of the Goddess] -The Birth of the Maidens-

The one that ended becoming the first Maiden was the Pureblooded Beta-type Reyvateil that from the start worked alongside Jaza: Selena. She was Installed with the D-Cellophane that Jaza had guarded so carefully, allowing her to inherit the powers and knowledge that Frelia had, and with the time, it also updated Frelia's knowledge itself. And when she finally established the Grand Bell on 3086 AD, she appointed herself as the first Maiden. All the Maidens that succeeded her afterwards also had copied Frelia's abilities through the use of the D-Cellophane.

Afterwards, the Maiden became a religious symbol for the Grand Bell, known as the [One that Could Hear the Voice of the Goddess], this being because of the fact that the Maiden copies the abilities and knowledge of Frelia thanks to the D-Cellophane. And furthermore, in the current times, where everything has forgotten about Frelia's existence, it's said that the abilities that Frelia conveys to the Maidens are because the inspiration that the [Goddess] gives them. Though Frelia's consciousness descends upon the Maiden, in the current times, the act of [listening to the voice of the Goddess] now carries a deeply religious meaning.

The Era of the Transient Maidens (3188 ~ 3297 AD)

150 years passed, and eventually, Selena's life span came to its end. And even worse, this marked the beginning of a cruel fate for all the Reyvateils. Around this year, the Pureblooded Beta-types that had come to Metafalss reached their life span limit, and slowly, all of them began dying, until the point in which no Betas remained in this land. After this, the only Reyvateils that still remained were the daughters of these Betas and Humans: the [Third Generation] Reyvateils.

The average life span of the Third Generations during these times were at around 15 years, given that in Metafalss and the rest of the world, the item they needed to continue living, the Diquility (Life Extending Agent) still hadn't been discovered. The Diquility wasn't discovered until 3300 AD, so the Third Generations had very short lives, and not even the Maidens would escape to this tragic destiny. Even so, in these times, it was said in Metafalss that the [Maidens are flowers]. They bloom beautifully, and soon enough, their ephemeral lives fade away. Because of that, the Maidens stirred many festivals and ceremonies, lived at the highest peaks of luxury, and were quite a symbol of splendor.

At one time, the lack of Maiden candidates became quite a problem. Given that the Maidens died so early, they couldn't give birth to children to continue their bloodlines, and after Selena, the candidates were picked liberally among the townspeople. However, this selection once became entangled with the lust of power among the factions of Metafalss. At 3211 AD, the 5th Maiden was appointed with the support of the Metafalica Radicals, however, she was appointed just because the radicals had assassinated all the other Maiden candidates. Because of this terrible incident, the 5th Maiden became known to the future generations as the [Bloodstained Maiden].

The Truth About the Metafalica Theory

The times became peaceful, but still, the wishes for Metafalica of the people hadn't subsided, and on the contrary, they were getting stronger. Even through the Grand Bell was constantly doing investigations on Metafalica, results such as the failures in the construction of both Infel Phira attempts weren't giving them any fruits for their efforts. And once they thought that Metafalica was just an unrealizable dream, their anxiety and their dissatisfaction towards the Grand Bell only increased even further.

At 3215 AD, the Grand Bell, governed at the time by the radical faction, announced that they successfully had decoded Jaza's Metafalica Theory, all with the aim of turning away the dissatisfaction of the people. And furthermore, they boasted that, in five years after said announcement, humankind would leave Pastalia to go live in their own land, created with their own hands. As preparatives for that, they began the construction in the lowest levels of Pastalia (where Lakra is located currently) of an enormous Metafalica Grand Cathedral.

The people anxiously looked forward to that day, and patiently awaited for the completion of the Grand Cathedral. However, on the other hand, the Metafalica radicals, in their impatience, kidnapped a great number of Reyvateil to make them sing Metafalica. Given that at this time the 5th Maiden was still young, she couldn't do anything more than give in to the wild pressure that the politicians were applying to her.

When this fact came out to the public in 3217 AD, the support of the radicals fell to the bottom. Their government then was herded to its own collapse by the conservatives, who had gained the support of the people. Once the conservatives managed to regain their position in power, they announced the reason why Jaza's Theory for the New Testament of Metafalica was sealed off. Once the people learnt that it required the sacrifice of many Reyvateils, their hopes in Jaza's theory were crushed, and lost all of their vitality.

In addition, this also caused the suspension in the construction of the Metafalica Grand Cathedral. This grand temple for sacred ceremonies was also based in Jaza's suppressed Metafalica theory, and it was supported by 33 Goddess Statues, which used as its pillars, made of it a lodging place for the souls. That was like a hint that in the future, the Maiden that would finally make Metafalica a reality would be the 33th one.

Spreading of Dive Therapy

When the people learned that the realization of Metafalica was impossible, they fell in to a deep despair, and since their minds were slowly being overrun by negative thoughts, there was a surge of people that searched a way to heal themselves from them. Around this time, it was that the mind treatment we call [Dive Therapy] became a trend in the world. This technique consists in a Reyvateil preparing an ideal paradise for the patient inside of her Cosmosphere, and then, letting the patient Dive into her and have a good time.

And though Dive Therapy in general was established in this way, around 3270 AD, there were many occurrences in which unscrupulous people misused this technique for criminal purposes. It then became popular to invite someone into the Soulspace and then, in the middle of Therapy, kill the patient off by completely shattering his/her mind. Because of receiving so many reports about this kind of crime, the Grand Bell prohibited the practice of Dive Therapy on 3271 AD.

The Reinstatement of the Metafalica Radicals

When she was appointed as the ninth Maiden at the age of six, in 3246 AD, it became obvious that Nea was a child with extremely weak Reyvateil qualities. And the ER (Early Rewriting) technique in which the D-Cellophane is used is characterized for having many problems in doing the rewriting in Reyvateils whose powers are extremely weak. So in 3251 AD, when Nea sung the song for the Heavenly Descent, Sol Fage, under the look of a lot of people, everyone saw she was a failure, given she couldn't make Frelia descend into her.

This was the trigger for the unsatisfaction of the people being increased, as also were their feelings of doubt towards the Grand Bell. This made the radical faction, who had lost their support because of the Reyvateil abduction incident, to regain it, and they also began to intensely work out in the realization of Metafalica. This propaganda had a great success, since the radicals again received the support of the people, and in 3254 AD, they already returned to the front of the political scene. Both Nea and the 4th Pope were overthrown and replaced by a Maiden and Pope appointed by the radicals themselves. And then, in the following year, 3255 AD, they established a new government, and declared: [By our own power, we will create a land by using magic]. The people were feeling hopeless at that time, so they all jumped into the new era with their hearts racing.

The Genius Scientist, Grammul

The renewed Grand Bell had a lot of self-confidence in their abilities to make Metafalica a reality, and it was founded in the fact that they had the [Super Reyvateil Theory] that an scientist, Dr. Grammul, had proposed. Grammul was the kind of person that didn't mind making sacrifices in the name of research, so even if everyone knew him as a mad scientist, that [suddenly changed] into being called the genius of the century.

In 3256 AD, when Grammul first proposed his Super Reyvateil Theory, it seemed like a radical denial of the tendencies from the Sound Science that existed back from the First Era. It was mostly based in Jaza's Theory for the New Testament of Metafalica, however, it eliminated the part of Infel Phira being dependant on Ar tonelico, and suggested it to be a completely independent system. For that purpose, its energy source would become the Reyvateils that were developed to exclusively use it (the IPDs).

Furthermore, and finally, the theory expanded on the idea of [combining the songs of many IPDs into one]. With this, they would be able to completely fulfill the wave flow requirements that were deemed impossible in Jaza's theory. In short, we could say that Grammul's theories were what completed the setup for the creation of Metafalica. However, Infel Phira needed a [Singer] as its Administrator. This singer was to be called the [Queen], and it was a key part in the creation of Metafalica, but it had a fatal flaw.

It was supposed that upon completing Jaza's theory, the singers wouldn't need to die for the creation of the continent, but when the Queen sang Metafalica, she ended being transmigrated into a Heart of the Land. Although this could make a complete land, it would be necessary to sacrifice her to turn her into the cornerstone of the land, and that was something that couldn't be allowed to happen.

The Construction of Infel Phira

Though Grammul's theory had bumped into some walls, that only accelerated the speed at which Metafalica would be realized. The theory was published the next year, and then, the Grand Bell also announced that the construction of the Infel Phira project would be started once again. Then, in 3264 AD, the team that had the duty of making a reality the New Testament of Metafalica, [Team Lakra], was formed.

Thus, they managed to surpass the failures that hindered the project the two previous times, and finally, the construction of Infel Phira was resumed. Given that the project required a great deal of work to be implemented, the environmental maintenance of the construction of Infel Phira was separated into two stages of development. This one, which consisted in the initial phase of the construction and environmental development was the core itself of the project, and was called the First Stage, which was started on 3283 AD. It was completed at 3290 AD successfully, and without any major incidents.

The Birth of the IPDs

In regards to the First Stage, it didn't have as its only crucial objective the construction of Infel Phira itself. Given that Infel Phira was to be used as a separate Song Server too, the development of Reyvateils that depended exclusively on it ran parallel to the construction of Infel Phira.

This new generation of Reyvateils were ones that didn't have to draw power from the First Tower, and instead, they featured as their main characteristic drawing their power from Infel Phira. They are called the Infel Phira Dependants (IPDs), and at 3291 AD, the first IPD was born, after being transcribed successfully.

The IPDs are Reyvateils that were developed exclusively on Metafalss. The method for their creation consisted in taking a Third Generation Reyvateil as the basis, and introducing a modified Spectrum Gene into her, which modifies the server in which they depend for their Song Magic from the First Tower of Ar tonelico to Infel Phira. Their biggest difference with the Third Generations that have existed so far are that they can use an special dialect of Hymmnos that is used only for accessing Infel Phira: the [New Testament of Pastalie]; and also, that their highest level Cosmospheres are called [Enhancement Spots (E-Spots)], which are now the Shared Consciousness Fields that all the IPDs share.

The IPD Outbreaks

The rewritten Spectrum Gene that the first generation of IPDs had was passed down from mother to children, and all the girls with Reyvateil abilities that were born as their descendants also inherited their IPD status. However, some of these IPDs also had outbreaks at the same time their Reyvateil abilities awakened. Even though the IPDs were developed as the next generation of Reyvateils, their existence ended becoming something that only brought unhappiness to the people that coexisted with them.

In the Metafalss of 3700 AD, the IPDs weren't considered anymore as a class of Reyvateil, and instead, were recognized as a genetic disease. Around this time, most of the IPDs that awakened also had an outbreak at the same time, and because they lost control of themselves and their Song Magic, they caused great damage to the people around them, without even intending to do so. And also, whenever an IPD had an outbreak near an unawakened IPD, this would lead the unawakened one to manifest her Reyvateil abilities and have and outbreak as well.

The Grand Bell then designated these names for the outbreaks: if it was one that exerted an influence over other IPDs, then it would be a [Negative Outbreak], while if it was one that caused the Reyvateil to lose control of her Song Magic, it would be a [Positive Outbreak]. And no matter what kind of outbreak it was, they would quickly go and contain the IPD.

The Age of Infel Phira (3298 ～ 3423)

Upon receiving the news that the IPD transcription process was a success, the Grand Bell announced on 3299 AD the establishment of a new order, in which there would be two Maidens from now on. The Maiden that inherited the D-Cellophane from her predecessor would be the [Maiden of Homura], while the high-leveled IPD that was registered as the Infel Phira Queen would be the [Maiden of Mio].

The very first Maiden of Mio was Infel. She was an orphan that Grammul found during one walk he had in the Slums, but also, she was a girl gifted with an amazing intelligence. Grammul greatly enjoyed his conversations with her, and he was very surprised when saw how quickly Infel learned everything he had to teach her. Their relationship was as if both of them were investigation companions, but also, a father-daughter relationship. However, their happy times were very short, given that after a time, Infel's intelligence had surpassed the average, and she managed to see through all that happiness to notice the fact that she was about to become a sacrifice.

The Maiden of Mio

The IPD transcription experiments that Grammul did were only a failure behind other at first, given that all the Reyvateils that were experimented on ended dying because of the collapse of their Soulspaces. The first IPD that was successfully transcribed happened to be also the first Maiden of Mio: Infel.

She was basically an orphaned girl of which Grammul was a godparent. Regarding the meaning of her name in Hymmnos, which is [love], Infel very soon became aware of the fact that she would be sacrificed in the name of research if the transcription process failed, and Grammul, sympathizing with her suffering, decided to name her after Infel Phira, as if her naming was his wish for the future generations to remember at the very least her name.

The Maiden of Homura and the Maiden of Mio

The two Maidens were planned to have accomplish different roles during the singing of Metafalica. While the Maiden of Homura sings to create the land, the Maiden of Mio is in charge of singing to gather the power of the many IPDs that are singing together with her, and relay all of these feelings combined into a single will to Infel Phira.

Still, the Maiden of Mio has a very important role during the times of calm as the Administrator for Infel Phira, which is because the Hymmnos that are used to put Infel Phira into operation can only be sung by the Maiden of Mio, as the Queen of the IPDs.

Grammul is Fired

No one knew how much more Infel's mental growth would continue, and before everyone noticed, she reached a level in which she had surpassed Grammul's intelligence by much. Once she knew she was going to be sacrificed, she began to research more deeply a hole that was in Grammul's theory about the [Transmigration of Souls], and doing so, she discovered the [Autostabilizing Nuclear Tesseractal Loops] and the [Cores of the Continent]. After this, she linked both of them to the development of [Metafalica-Alpha], which became a prototype for the perfect version of Metafalica.

At the same time, the news about Grammul's theory requiring sacrifices were spread among the townspeople. This ran contrary to what the Grand Bell of the time had declared previously about [Creating an Utopia without Sacrifices], and because of this, Grammul lost all the support of the people. And given that he had gotten too old at this time, Grammul was fired from the project.

The People of Mio and Metafalica-Alpha

Once Infel finished doing improvements on Grammul's theory, she formed a team composed of Grammul's best engineers and Terus, and called this team of experts the [People of Mio]. And thanks to the unique powers that the Teru provided to the People of Mio, they were finally able to create a Autostabilizing Nuclear Tesseractal Loops successfully. And furthermore, even if it was in very small scale in comparison to how Infel Phira was supposed to be used, as an experiment for the creation of Metafalica, the creation of this as a Heart of the Land ended as a complete success.

At the time, this Heart of the Land was codenamed [Metafalica-Alpha], and it was greatly praised by the people throughout Metafalss, as they were at last one step closer to the realization of Metafalica. The creation of Metafalica-Alpha was a practical experiment, and because of this, it was conducted on the Rim, near where some voluntaries later on established the town of Mint Ward. Metafalica-Alpha gave birth to a forest in just a few days, which came to be known later on as the Forest of Mikry.

Establishment of the New Testament of Pastalie

With the new Song Magic Server of Infel Phira, and the development of the new generation of Reyvateils: the IPDs, complete, it became possible to create a new Hymmnos dialect that was exclusive of Metafalss. For this reason, Infel established an unique kind of Hymmnos that would be exclusively used by the IPDs to interface with Infel Phira, and named it the [New Testament of Pastalie].

The reason why only the IPDs can used this kind of Hymmnos is because it has been devoid from all the other things that are generic among the other dialects of Hymmnos, and was optimized to be used with Infel Phira, but that made its words much shorter, which is the greatest feature of this dialect. And not only that, the effects of the New Testament of Pastalie words are much greater than the ones of the other dialects. And similarly to how the standard Third Generation Reyvateils can naturally understand and speak Hymmnos as soon as they awaken their Reyvateil abilities, the IPD can also naturally understand and sing in New Testament of Pastalie as soon as their abilities awaken.

The Completion of Infel Phira

After the First Stage was completed, the Metafalica project moved on to the Second Stage. And given that Grammul was fired, the project continued under Infel's leadership. The Second Stage had as its final goal the much-awaited creation of Metafalica.

There was a very definite difference between the theories that Grammul and Infel had developed, and that was that Infel's theory didn't require the Maidens to become a sacrifice for the creation of the land, and instead it would be created from a Heart of the Land. During her researches, she noticed that the Reyvateils had as their nucleus an organ called the [Nuclear Triangular Loop].

This organ is basically what carries and sings the [will that maintains the body of the Reyvateils], and it's said that the Reyvateils exist only because of it. By creating a will-carrying mechanism similar to this organ (the Autostabilizing Nuclear Tesseractal Loop), she effectively created a Heart of the Land. This was the very basis of Infel's theory.

And thanks to the technologies and skills that the People of Mio provided to her, Infel's theory was successfully put into practice, and with this, she started structuring all of the creation process of Metafalica into a final song: METHOD_METAFALICA/. With this, all of the necessary components for the creation of Metafalica were completed, thus leading the Second Stage to a magnificent and successful end.

Completion of the METHOD part

Infel completed METHOD_METAFALICA/. on 3310 AD. She programmed this Song as a form of complementing the flaws that the EXEC_METAFALICA/. made by Jaza had.

METHOD_METAFALICA/. was made to simulate a single singer that had the gathered feelings of the many IPDs, and to make Infel Phira function as the Heart of the Land. In short, it's the song that creates a virtual life form capable of meeting the enormous Symphonic Power requirements that EXEC_METAFALICA/. needs to be executed, and to be able of manifesting its effects, it requires a great number of feelings from the IPDs to bundle them into the feelings of a virtual lone singer. To make this possible, the IPDs Reyvateils are the only ones that had the E-Spot area inside of their Shared Consciousness Fields.

The purpose of METHOD_METAFALICA/. itself is very simple. Explained in a short way, it only enables the usage of the areas beyond the Lv. 8 Cosmospheresof the IPDs (the E-Spots). After it has transformed Infel Phira into Metafalica Mode and made available the usage of the E-Spots, then it becomes possible for the Song to connect the feelings of all the IPD Reyvateils into one.

In this way, the E-Spots were established as special regions in the Cosmosphere with the sole purpose of crafting a massive combination magic.

The Flaws of METHOD_METAFALICA/., and Its Effects When Sung by a Single Person

METHOD_METAFALICA/. actually had a fatal flaw. If by any reason the singer is unable to make the IPDs fill their Lv. 8's with their feelings and wills, Metafalica Mode will be activated, but it won't bring about any effects.

Each individual IPD has her own will, and thinks about different things when she sings. Because of that, it's said that it doesn't matter if a song containing Lv. 8 or higher feelings is sung, and that is completely dependant on the individual consciousness of the IPD.

For example, if there are 10 people singing together, but the feelings go through the Lv. 8 consciousness of only 3 of them, then no matter how much these 10 sing, the base power of the song will be only multiplied by 3. However, there are many things equal in power and intensity to the Lv. 8 feelings, so it's not like they can be simply sung like that.

Anyway, METHOD_METAFALICA/. was developed with the aim of it having the effects of patch that complemented the flaws that EXEC_METAFALICA/. had. Therefore, it's like the song when sung by itself didn't have any effects, yet it has effects that we could consider to be byproducts of its main function.

This effect is that the singer reveals her own heart to all the IPDs. This can be a double-edged sword, because revealing your own will and feelings to everyone can have both good and bad consequences.

The True Metafalica

METHOD_METAFALICA/. was created to entangle with EXEC_METAFALICA/. even in an artistic sense. This is because METHOD was planned by Infel as a supplement to make up for the flaws in EXEC, and it perfectly complements it.

In a material sense, this is the mutual linkage of the METHOD part sung by the Maiden of Mio and the EXEC part sung by the Maiden of Homura, and by adding to them the power of the many IPDs, it creates an indescribable feeling of lyrical greatness to everyone that listens to it, greatly moving them.

This was the true Metafalica, the song that creates the Utopia for the people from their own feelings.

The Night Previous to the Execution of Metafalica

Everything was ready for the realization of Metafalica. However, the night previous to the day in which the two maidens, Infel and Nenesha, would combine their singing voices to accomplish this feat, Infel secretly escaped from the Grand Bell Hall.

The Metafalica-Alpha that was done before and the Metafalica they would sing the next day had an absolute difference. And that was that no matter how much intelligence she had, she wouldn't be able to correct anything that came out wrong during the execution procedure, and Infel feared that such a thing could happen because of her shyness. That was because she feared that she would [have to expose her heart to all the singers].

During the experiment in which Metafalica-Alpha was created, all of the participants in it were all her trusted researchers and engineers, and she didn't have any problem in dealing with them in a business-like manner, so it wasn't a problem for her to dare revealing her heart to them. However, what she was going to do the next day was different. She would have to connect the hearts of all the IPDs in Metafalss together. Given that the success of the experiment was already very well-known among the people, what all the IPDs were saying was [I really look forward to see what is on the heart of Lady Infel].

Because of her rational personality, she understood, in her own way, that everyone was bound to have some darkness in their hearts. However, she was scared, frightened that her heart was something that no one should see. So she ran away from the Grand Bell Hall, while crying for how weak she was. However, she wasn't alone. There always was someone else at her side, giving her comfort, the Maiden of Homura at the time: Nenesha. They both lived together in an isolated environment, and Nenesha was the only that could understand her.

Her irreplaceable partner. As long as their friendship continue like this, everything would surely go well... When she finally cried enough, Infel noticed that Nenesha had been following her since when she left the Grand Bell Hall. Nenesha had never seen her so-firm partner with a face like this, and after looking at her slightly surprised, she softly embraced Infel.

The Failure of Metafalica

The day which was supposed to be commemorated in history as the creation of Metafalica ended with tragic results. This because the IPDs that were supposed to connect their feelings with Infel learned about the darkness she had in her heart, and the commotion this caused to the hearts of the IPDs disseminated incredibly quickly. Furthermore, given that they couldn't see what Infel had in her heart, the inability to mutually see the hearts of both part brought anxiety, and caused commotion to the IPDs. Anxiety only calls more anxiety, throwing the hearts into chaos. This caused the song to completely lose all of its unity feelings.

Nenesha had lost her cover, but she still was receiving the enormous demands the song required for the creation of the land. Exactly this was what put Frelia's life in danger, and once Raki sensed this, she went down, and killed off Nenesha. This greatly enraged Infel, who proclaimed war against the Goddess. And by using Replekia as a weapon, they completely devastated the Divine Army. This war ended in an overwhelming victory for the humans.

The Pact of Hibernation

Once Infel got the victory in the war, and noticed that Raki and the Divine Armies didn't plan any acts of retaliation, the [Goddess] was sent over to Kanakana Pier, in the quality of a war prisoner. However, she lost the support of the people almost immediately. The disappointment because of the failure of Metafalica, the damage that Infel Phira sustained during the war, and over everything else, the fact that they had bared their fangs against the same Goddess they were supposed to be worshiping only brought out the worst of the people.

As for Infel, she was unable to receive support from the people after the failure of Metafalica, despite the fact that she fought against the Goddess to protect them, and even worse, she also had lost her dearest Nenesha. The irrational reaction of the people only made her fall into the deepest despair. Still, during the time she continued doing the post-war negotiations with Rhaki, she managed to find the place where Nenesha's soul was hidden.

Once she learned that there was still a way for her to meet with Nenesha again, she made a 4-point pact, without any hesitation. These four points were the following:

The humans won't try to sing Metafalica ever again.

They will work towards the development and implantation of Hibernation.

The humans will shut down Infel Phira, and won't try to reactivate it ever.

As long as the humans comply with conditions stated above, they won't be attacked by the Goddess. Still, they will have to strive to make this world a better place.

All of this pact was based on the [Hibernation Project] proposed by Infel. According to the meaning of [Sublimation of the Souls] that this project also has, Infel Phira was to be converted into a vessel for the souls, to receive the souls of the people once they were detached from their flesh. Once all of their souls were stored within Infel Phira, Frelia wouldn't need anymore to keep sustaining the land. Because this pact also had as its final goal the preservation of Frelia's life, Raki agreed with its implementation. Thus, in this way was established the pact that remained for the future generations, and which would be deemed by them as the "Pact with the Goddess".

Eternal Souls

Nenesha's soul didn't follow the failure of Metafalica, and remained in this world under the shape of a Heart of the Land. However, it was impossible for Infel to make the Heart reach a mutual understanding or converse with her, and when she finally had found the methods necessary for Nenesha's rebirth, her body already had died off. In this situation, Infel began thinking of a way to contact Nenesha again, and the one she found was meeting with her through the Cosmosphere.

"Given that Nenesha didn't have a physical body anymore, it was impossible to meet her again in the present world. However, if I could create a virtual world, couldn't we all live in an eternal happiness within it?" Infel's Hibernation Project had at is core the idea of releasing the souls of the people from their physical shells, their bodies, and once that was released, they wouldn't have to suffer anymore because of this destroyed land, or because the pain implicit in all kinds of human relationships... and live within an eternal dream... that was what said project proposed. However, it would be more closer to the reality to say that Infel designed and perfected this project to meet with Nenesha's soul.

Infel gathered all of the research that the People of Mio had done previously, and before long, she executed the project upon herself. By using Rakura, she released herself from her body, and transmigrated herself as a soul into Infel Phira. In this way, if she managed to connect Ar tonelico and Infel Phira, she should be able to reach the Ar tonelico Binary Field, and meet with Nenesha's soul.

Thus, like the dear Nenesha she sought to meet so much, which had become an eternal soul after losing her body, Infel also became an existence that only consisted of a soul. However, after Infel successfully sublimated her own soul, she expected that Hibernation would be sung immediately, but after 400 years, no one had sung it. There were many reasons to it, but the biggest and most important one was that the execution of Hibernation was leaked to the people.

Once the people learned about the fact that the Grand Bell was going to implement the Pact with the Goddess, the people started revolting, and thus, they had to freeze the Hibernation Project temporarily. However, once the people appealed again to contact the Goddess again for the start of the Heavenly Descent Festival, Hibernation, which was known as [The Pact with the Goddess to Save the People], was relegated again to a supernatural power. Before long, the Grand Bell regained their posture in implementing Hibernation. And the reason why this information didn't got leaked to the people again until around the 3770's was because the people of Kanakana Pier isolated themselves completely from the outside world.

Souffle and Raksha

Because of the exhaustion that the failure of Metafalica and the War brought to them, the hearts and the bodies of the people were beyond tired. However, once the post-war recovery period finished, the next stretch of time ended becoming the time with the most development done in all of the Second Era.

And the ones that supported the most these times of prosperity were two Maidens whose names remained as heroines for the posterity: Souffle and Raksha. They were the first Reyvateils with extended lives to be appointed as Maidens, given they assumed the position after the invention of Diquility. Because of that, and unlike the previous Maidens, which all had extremely short life-spans, they remained strong and vigorous, in the center stage of the development of Metafalss, for a very long time.

The first one between them was the 15th Maiden, the successor Maiden to Infel and Nenesha: Souffle, who was the person which proposed the construction of a railroad network that covered all of the Rim. In 3228 AD, she visited various locations of the Rim, and was utterly shocked when she saw the deplorable conditions in which the inhabitants of the Rim lived. Despite having met with fierce opposition because Pastalia was going through a rough era, Souffle still went on with her plan, and enforced the creation of the Rim railroad network.

And the railroad network, which was said to be an absurd waste of effort, was finally completed under the lead of the 16th Maiden: Raksha. The people praised Raksha's achievements, and even went as far as proposing to name the railroad network in her honor, but Raksha didn't wish to get such an honor, and following her wishes, the people named the network in the honor of her mother: the [Souffle Axis]. In a way, Raksha's name also was recorded for posterity, as the namesake of a town that developed from a simple storehouse used for the materials of the railroad network: the town of Rakshek. And furthermore, until the negotiations between Pastalia and the Rim commenced, Raksha continued with her labors as a Maiden, until she retired in 3381 AD.

The people united under both of them, and gave to them their support, making them the most special between the successive generations of Maidens, and were passed down in history as the heroines that brought great advancement to Metafalss.

The Situation of the IPDs after the Metafalica failure

At 3313 AD, during the time in which the War Against the Goddess was being waged, the Divine Armies, under Raki's command, went and attacked what was said to be the heart of the IPDs: Infel Phira, and destroyed a part of it.

At this time, many IPD Reyvateils either died from the shock this caused to them, or were left with severe mental damage. And once the damage to Infel Phira settled down, and the server managed to stabilize itself, the remaining IPDs began to think things such as they didn't have a place in the world, but it didn't become an immediate threat to the people of Metafalss.

Because of the damage that Infel Phira sustained, something called an [Outbreak] began appearing within the IPDs. Once an IPD has an outbreak, they begin discharging around them their song magic, through the abuse of the incredible singing speed that the New Testament Pastalie has, and cause great destruction through it. The casualties only continued increasing because of this, and since the outbreaks also were contagied to many other IPDs close to the outbroken ones, the people lived in fear.

The IPD outbreaks aren't caused by simple random mood shifts. The actual trigger of the outbreaks is when the mind condition of the IPD reaches its limits, especially if what pushed these limits so far were negative emotions such as [anger], [anxiety] or [fear], whose energy are the biggest culprits of causing this. It's said that when Infel Phira was partly destroyed, the peak in the flow of Dynamic H-Waves was so great, that it ended destroying the emotional limiter that Infel Phira had built-in. Because of that, whenever an IPD has an H-Wave overload, she begins acting unconsciously, and is able to transmit that overload to the other IPDs through the direct connection they have via their E-Spots.

However, this phenomenon wasn't actually clarified until very recently, which caused the IPDs to be recognized as people with a genetic virus when the outbreaks began happening, in which the destructive release of magic was called Positive Outbreak. And also, until it was discovered that the Positive Outbreaks were also caused by the negative influence of Infel Phira's Torcarrol Mode, everyone thought that it didn't have any relation to the outbreaks.

Also, the outbreak condition was easily linked to the awakening of a Reyvateil status, until the point in which became impossible to distinguish between both. When a Reyvateil awakens her abilities, she begins to suffer from a high fever, and falls temporarily unconscious, and suddenly, her body begins to undergo various changes. And given that most of the awakening Reyvateils weren't aware of what was happening to them, and thought that these were the symptoms of a lethal disease, they ended falling into a very deep anxiety.

If they awaken under these conditions, it's easy to imagine why they would fall into an IPD outbreak, and how both ended being linked. If they were able to get to an specialist, and show them that [These are symptoms of a Reyvateil awakening her abilities], they might have not fallen into that anxiety. However, in most cases, until the awakening was completed, they questioned this strange suffering about if it was a lethal disease, or a simple awakening, because they didn't know the difference between both.

Not to mention when the IPD qualities were recognized as a genetic virus, in which the fear even caused the people to say that [These are symptoms of a Reyvateil awakening her abilities, but she might also start an outbreak]. Because of these things, the anxiety never ended for the Reyvateils. The only real way to prevent outbreaks are to keep the IPDs feeling calmed. This is why the IPDs that hide themselves in the Slums have decided on rules for their lives such as [Not fighting under any circumstances], [Work all together], [Comfort the worried ones]. Because of this, it's pretty rare to see them angry or anxious, and that is why they all take care of each other during the game's story.

The Third Era - Once again, Defying the Goddess

Although the humans won in the War Against the Goddess, this didn't mean that Metafalica was going to be executed, and that their land was going to be created: at the end, the people of Metafalss didn't gain anything from this. And also, given that the one that leaded them to victory in the war, Infel, had lost even her own body and didn't leave any successors behind, the very existence of the Maiden of Mio was abolished.

However, many refugees from the region of Neo Elemia began coming to Metafalss, and once again, the Metafalssians once again had the chance of making technological exchanges and receiving more information on Sound Science, making these very prosperous times while they gained that knowledge about the scientific prowess of the Elemians. However, soon enough, many quarrels for power started, and slowly degenerated into a war of big proportions, which became very dangerous for both sides, and which could be compared to any kind of colonization war in our world. This was the rising of the curtain for the Third Era.

Ruled by Elemians Again (3424 ~ 3752 AD)

At the end of the Second Era, there was a grand rebellion from the Reyvateils living in Sol Ciel, and Neo Elemia received devastating attacks from them, and the Elemians that ended drifting throughout the world, trying to escape from these riots, ended up in Metafalss in 3422 AD. The Grand Bell began pondering about what they should do with the visitors, and finally, established their policies to receiving people from other countries, given that they were people that came from the country that discovered Sound Science. In these times, artifacts commonly used in the 3770's such as the [Telemo] and the newest kinds of Dive Machines were developed thanks to the technologies brought by the immigrants.

However, the technological superiority of the Elemians soon became a great threat to the Metafalssians. Because the weapons they brought from Sol Ciel were overwhelming to the inhabitants of an undeveloped country such as Metafalss, the Elemians gradually began acting as if they were the rulers of this land, and even worse, they had the military power to back up that attitude.

The Metafalssians were driven out of their pleasant city of Pastalia, and their position had a complete reversal. Then, both sides started a war. During these times, Metafalss had Infel Phira as their trump card, but unfortunately, they weren't able to put it in operation because of the Pact with the Goddess. And even if they did so, because there wasn't a Maiden of Mio anymore, they wouldn't have a way of controlling it. Essentially, Metafalss fell to the power of the Elemians.

The Battle Maiden, Illusha

The Metafalssians that fled to the Rim found themselves forced to live a hard life in a withered land, while the ones that still remained in Pastalia began to be exploited as slaves by the Elemians. Everyone thought that this was the beginning of a dark era.

However, there was still one that wouldn't fall silent, and that was the 19th Maiden: Illusha, which passed down in history under the names [Battle Maiden] and [Maiden of the Battlefield]. Her belligerent personality was what made her rise in arms against the Elemians, even if the Metafalssians were under a severe numerical inferiority because of the Creature that the Elemians continued producing without end. And then, that was when she put her eyes over the Hymn Crystal the Elemians had brought with them: EXEC_PURGER/.

If that Song was executed even for a short while, the interruptions it would cause would throw the enemies into chaos, but Illusha, with the strong feelings she had, forced the Song to convert into an Ancient Metafalss Hymmnos Fusion. The enemy Creatures were left powerless in one instant, and the tables turned. Illusha saw this as a good chance, and leading her infantry, they raided Pastalia. Thanks to the great combat capabilities of her knights, they gained the victory over the Elemians, and brought peace back to Metafalss.

The Completion of Hibernation

The ones to which Infel entrusted her final wishes, the People of Mio, finally successfully completed the Hymn Crystal for Hibernation on 3748 AD. With this, they would be able to download the Song of Hibernation into an unaware Reyvateil.

And with the completion of this Hymmnos, Infel's plan finally could move over to its final step. Next, it would be waiting until someone that could sing this song appeared, and complete the Ascension, which counting from Infel's disappearance in 3319 AD, more than 400 years had passed since this project was started.

About the IPDs as Genetic Virus Bearers

Around this time, the truth about the IPD abilities was already forgotten, even after Loude's investigations had clarified how Replekia Mode worked. Given that the Neo Grand Bell was unable to understand correctly the purpose of Metafalica Mode, they thought up about using Replekia Mode with military purposes, and searched around the world for a suitable candidate to Maiden of Mio. Their methods were extremely forceful, given that their discoveries were said to be dependant on the IPDs they contained. And furthermore, even though Loude proclaimed to be a physician that prescribed medicines for the Reyvateil whose abilities were awakening, he actually was only increasing the ratio of the outbreaks.

Towards the Song of Reform (3753 ~ 3774 AD)

On 3751 AD, Alfman, which was only an staff officer of the Grand Bell, discovered the Hibernation Project that they were developing under absolute secrecy. He decided that he had to stop this, and did so causing a coup d'etat by killing the Pope. He completely reformed the hierarchical structure of the Grand Bell, concentrating all the powers into his position, and finally, declared his complete secession from the Goddess. With this, it was unavoidable the Infel's Hibernation Project ended being obstructed. And on 3753 AD, the Maiden at the time, Arshe, was assassinated under the pretense of an IPD outbreak. Once Alfman ended sweeping off all the remnants of the old regime, he steadily began putting into work his preparations for a war against the Goddess.

The Antagonism between the Neo Grand Bell and the Sacred Army

The Neo Grand Bell established by Alfman, and the Sacred Army established by Chester, who left the Grand Bell, always have been at odds, beginning with facts such as if the failure of Metafalica was one of the factors that contributed to the downfall of the former Grand Bell, and their antagonism quickly became worse.

The ideologies that both parties had in the political scenary were [We must exterminate the Goddess], and [We must coexist with the Goddess], which as we can see, were completely incompatible with each other. However, both sides had something in common. That something was that both wished [for a peaceful land of Metafalss], and that was that both boasted of having the support of the true Maiden. Below we will be offering an explanation about the true objectives of both organizations, and of their postures about them.

The Goals of the Grand Bell

Alfman is an overly enthusiast supporter of the Metafalica Legends. However, given that he thought that the Grand Bell Agency for which he worked didn't have any sort of political power, he decided that it would be better to cut off their excessive clinging to the Goddess for good.

The reason why he thought his plan of defying the Goddess could be possible, despite sounding so reckless and absurd, was because he learned of the truth about the [Maiden of Mio], which used to exist before in the Grand Bell, and about the weapon called [Replekia Mode], which was said to be the only weapon capable of attacking the Goddess.

To increase the effectiveness of Replekia, he would need to have a great number of IPDs ready. This in turn would also let him find more possible candidates to Maiden of Mio, which he would need to control Replekia. Thus, he focused all of the efforts of the Grand Bell into the IPD Containment programs, which also increased greatly the birth of more IPDs. Alfman was very passionate towards his ideals, and given that the words he said also denoted his particular sense of justice, the people vehemently gave their support to the Grand Bell.

The Goals of the Sacred Army

The Sacred Army was an organization established by Chester after he left the Grand Bell, and they used to be a resistance movement whose final goals were to overthrow the current government. However, once they met with the legitimate successor to the last Pope, Targana, and the truth about Arshe's assassination came out to the light, their slogan changed to [We must give importance to our coexistence with the Goddess, like we did in the ancient days].

During the story, when they ascertained that Luca was Arche's orphaned daughter, they supported her as the true Maiden of Homura. Actually, while the fact about Luca being the Maiden of Homura was true, the [Fulfilling of the Pact with the Goddess], to which they gave so much importance, was a deception made by Infel, and they fell right into it. This Pact certainly would have brought peace to Metafalss, but it wouldn't have created more land, and it would have forced everyone to discard their bodies and live in a false world as simple mental beings... because said Pact actually was the Hibernation Project.

The Kanakana Pier Attack

Because of Loude's researches, Alfman, who knew that Kanakana Pier had many ancient documents archived within it, used the same method he employed during Arshe's assassination to incite outbreaks in the IPDs, and make them attack Kanakana. And given that there weren't any people but an small group living in Kanakana Pier at the time, the Grand Bell intentionally delayed the deploying of the containment squads. This was actually because they didn't actually send any orders to the knights, and thus, the IPDs completely devastated Kanakana Pier.

Once things settled, Loude discovered in Kanakana Pier the secrest of the [Maiden of Mio] that the former Grand Bell had hidden within it. The former Grand Bell, under Infel's orders, declared that [The Maiden of Mio will be known from now on as the [Maiden of Taboo], and from that time onwards, they only intensified this notion of the Maiden of Mio because Infel herself didn't want anyone else to know about Replekia Mode. This notion weathered after 400 years, and compared to the ancient times, the number of people that knew this truth was roughly the same as in the current times.

The Grand Collapse

At 3771 AD, an enormous collapse took out a great part of the Rim. The areas around Enna received a great damage, and regardless of it was near Pastalia or in the Rim itself, a great part of the small land that remained in Metafalss was lost.

While the cause of this incident was unknown to the Metafalssians, it was because the Administrator of the First Tower of Ar tonelico, Shurelia, had sung EXEC_SUSPEND/., putting temporarily the Tower into Sleep Mode. The sudden fall in the output power of the First Tower also caused a general Symphonic Power insufficiency in Sol Marta, and once Rhaki became aware of this, she hurriedly went and halved the Symphonic Power output of Sol Marta. Because of this, it wasn't possible to continue preserving the entirety of the Rim, which leaded to the grand collapse.

The Rakshek Resort Attack

On 3772 AD, the Sacred Army, which had gained quite a bit of power, thought it was time to try more forceful methods, so they went and attacked Rakshek Resort, in which the 33th Maiden, Cloche, was resting at the moment. The Grand Bell knight Croix Bartel, and his satellite girl (support for the knights), Cocona, rushed to the Resort to try and save Cloche.